THOUSANDS of people throughout the borough paid tribute to the fallen during a series of Remembrance Day parades and services on Sunday (Nov 11).

There were civic and military processions and services staged in Bury, Ramsbottom, Tottington, Whitefield, Prestwich, Walshaw, Unsworth and Radcliffe.

Wreath laying ceremonies took place at war memorials all over the borough and all those attending bowed their heads during the two-minutes silence.

In Bury, a large parade left the Town Hall and marched to the town's war memorial.

And pictured inspecting some of the many wooden Remembrance crosses at the memorial are Debbie Demain and daughter Lauren of Greenmount.

In his Remembrance Day address to a packed congregation at Bury Parish Church, Rector of Bury, the Reverend Dr John Findon said no powers should harbour those who planned and executed the barbaric terrorist attacks on the USA.

He also reminded worshippers that Sunday marked the 82nd anniversary of the institution of Remembrance Day.

"It's 82 years since the world looked back in 1919 and reflected on the terrifying waste that could be inflicted by the genie called war once it got out of the bottle," he said. "We are remembering November 11 in the shadow of September 11. Not for the first time since 1919, Remembrance Sunday is not only about remembering, about looking back.

"It is also about looking forward and trying to peer into a future that seems as uncertain as it has ever done in my lifetime."

The Rector continued: "Ever since September 11 the world, it seems, has almost been holding its breath. And who can predict the future?

"Whatever the armchair experts say, and they have a great deal to say, peace and justice and doing the right thing in international affairs is not easy.

"What would I do? What would you do if you were a king, president or prime minister in this present crisis?

"Yet act they must," he stressed. "Somehow, they must find a policy, even when there appears to be no obvious answer. They need and deserve our prayers.

"Nations cannot have dealings with each other without governments, without leaders. How easy, it would seem to us today, if it were possible to deal with the Taliban government without affecting the people of Afghanistan."

He added: "The government must deal with realities. They need our prayers. Look at the Prime Minister's face in any newspaper photograph you see. Which of us would want to change places with him?

"Scriptures and all religions speak to us of justice. Those who planned and executed the attacks on September 11 must be brought to justice and no power must be allowed to harbour them. Justice must be done and the culprits must be dealt with."

He said anyone of any religion who pretended that a God would be pleased by what he termed "that kind of barbarity" was, quite simply, "guilty of blasphemy."